By Mike Coppinger
The IBF middleweight title eliminator between Hassan N'Dam and Curtis Stevens finally is set.
The bout will headline ESPN2's Friday Night Fights from The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, on Oct. 1, N'Dam's manager Gary Hyde told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday.
The winner of the matchup will be the mandatory to 160-pound beltholder Sam Soliman.
"Myself and Hassan are super confident that he will be victorious when he fights Curtis Stevens in their final eliminator Oct. 1st," Hyde said. "Hassan's powerful promoter Michael King won the bid to host the show which will give Hassan home advantage."
N'Dam, whose lone loss came to Peter Quillin in Oct. 2012, chimed in on the opportunity.
"It's great to be right in the 160 mix and I will win this fight by putting on a master class performance," N'Dam told BScene. "If I had to hand pick an opponent who I would like to have fought, this is the guy."
N'Dam's manager King Sports surprisingly won the purse bid on July 14, outbidding Stevens promoter Main Events $80,000 to $62,000. Michael King has been putting on fights in Santa Monica, so the location is a natural.
Main Events, if it won the rights to the fight, was planning to stage it in Connecticut and televise on NBC in September.
N'Dam (30-1, 18 KOs) last fought in April, a shutout win over Fulencio Zuniga. Stevens (27-4, 20 KOs) fought Tureano Johnson that same month, coming out on a top in a brawl.
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